An allergy starts when your immune system mistakes a normally harmless substance for a dangerous invader. The immune system then produces antibodies that remain on the alert for that particular allergen.

When you’re exposed to the allergen again, these antibodies can release a number of immune system chemicals, such as histamine, that cause allergy symptoms.

What Causes Allergies?

Learn what you can do to alleviate the dreadful symptoms that prevent you from participating in life with the following article.

  1. Stay away from small flowers that do not have a lot of color. These flowers are the ones that tend to bother allergies. Larger, brighter flowers, such as the ones that bees and hummingbirds are attracted to, tend to be non-allergenic, so you should be okay around these kinds of flowers.
  2. It may be tempting to move elsewhere to try to avoid the allergens that are causing your allergies. When this thought crosses your mind, remember that the most common allergy causing plants (grass and ragweed) are found everywhere. So a move to a different climate may not help your situation.
  3. One way to keep allergies under control is to ensure that you clean your bed sheets on a weekly basis. This is important, because any number of airborne allergies as well as items that you track in can harvest in your bed. You do not want to be exposed to these items, especially with the amount of time spent in bed.
  4. You need to be aware of the pollen count outdoors if you suffer from seasonal allergies. Oftentimes, the local newspaper will have this information, or you can look online for the daily mold levels and pollen count. If either is too high, you need to plan on being indoors on those days.
  5. One way to keep allergies under control is to make sure that your carpet is clean. This is critical because allergy-causing things, such as, dust mites will live in your rug and multiply unless you clean your carpet on a regular basis. Weekly vacuuming combined with bi-yearly steam cleaning should be enough.
  6. If you have allergies and have been outdoors, remember to remove the dirty clothes from your bedroom because it most likely picked up some airborne pests when you were outside. Put the clothes in a hamper in a different room, so it is not close to aggravate your symptoms.
  7. If you suffer from allergies, it is important to keep your home clean and vacuumed to remove allergens from carpets and floors. But, did you know that your vacuum not only sucks up allergens, it blows some of them right back out! Let someone without allergies do the vacuuming, or at least wear a dust mask if you have to do it yourself.
  8. Watch your local weather forecast to see if pollen is high for that day. If it is, it’s best that you minimize your time spent outdoors. If you do want to go outdoors, make sure it’s not between the hours of 5 and 10 A.M. This is the time when pollen is high.
  9. Consider removing carpeting from your home, and going with wood or laminate flooring. Carpet allows dust mites to build up, and this can irritate allergies. If possible, remove the carpeting from your home, and replace it with laminate or wood flooring. Thiss prevents extra build of of allergens in your home.
  10. When looking at your local weather forecast, if you see that pollen is going to be high, take your allergy medication in advance. Why wait until pollen gets too bad to take your medication? Instead, take it in advance, so that you do not have to suffer when going outdoors for the day.

The severity of allergies varies from person to person and can range from minor irritation to anaphylaxis — a potentially life-threatening emergency.

While most allergies can’t be cured, treatments can help relieve your allergy symptoms.

Hopefully, this article has opened your eyes to the many things you can do to take control over allergies and stop being a slave to their symptoms.

With a little research and diligence, you should soon have more doors in life open to you that allergies were keeping closed. Enjoy!